What can an AI Maggie Thatcher teach our ailing Libs?
One only has to look at the UK Conservatives’ descent into madness to imagine the potential horrors that await.
At the Conservative Party’s annual conference two weeks ago, guests were invited to ask a Margaret Thatcher chatbot what she thought of the party today. Plumbing new depths of desperation in a quest for relevance, the Tories’ homage to the Iron Lady, who would’ve been celebrating her 100th birthday if she were alive, was more like a wake.
But a wake for who?
“Her power suits are displayed in glass cabinets by the entrance, mugs in the gift shop read, ‘Milk before tea? No, no, no’, and a giant mosaic of her face, composed of Polaroids greets delegates as they enter the exhibition hall,” The Times reported.
Nostrada Ai, which developed the Thatcher bot, dubbed the Silicon Lady, initially wanted to create an educational tool for schools so students could learn about her. Unsurprisingly, journalists took the occasion to conduct their own interviews with AI Maggie.
Considering some of the brutal things AI Maggie had to say about what had happened to the party she once led, organisers might want to consider a refund.
“No party can expect to survive, let alone win, if it has neither vision nor values, and lately the Tories have had precious little of either,” AI Maggie told The Times’ reporter before accusing the Tories of becoming an incoherent rabble. Sound familiar?
As Menzies does for the Liberal Party, Thatcher looms large over the UK Conservatives as they struggle to find a unifying principle that can halt the erosion of their conservative base, with polls suggesting Nigel Farage’s MAGA-style Reform UK party could win the next election.
Whether it can turn polls into actual votes remains to be seen.
Parties of protest tend to over-perform in polls and underperform in elections. But not always.
Barnaby Joyce is clearly looking at the potential to convert Pauline Hanson’s record high support in the polls – now almost double what she recorded at the election – as he considers jumping into bed with One Nation.
Considering the rolling disaster the Coalition is in, what might an AI Sir Robert Menzies proffer to miserable Liberals in Australia, who last week thought the party’s 81st birthday was something to celebrate?
“He’d probably say; build more reliable power generators, deregulate massively, build more houses and don’t nationalise shit,” one Coalition MP offered after referencing a 1949 speech in which Menzies outlined an election-winning agenda. “I would have thought that was a pretty good agenda.”
In fact, a lot of Liberal MPs have been quoting Menzies lately as they search for the answer to the opposition’s problems. That the squabbling has returned again to whether Menzies would today be considered conservative or moderate says it all.
Considering a Menzies chatbot doesn’t yet exist, as far as we know, this column decided to ask AI Maggie for her opinion on what Australians on the centre-right might do.
“So, Mrs Thatcher, what advice would you have for the Liberal Party of Australia following its 2025 election defeat,” AI Maggie was asked.
AI Maggie began with a blistering assessment of the Coalition’s lack of economic policy – timely considering Sussan Ley on Monday night will deliver a speech in which she promises to unveil the Liberal Party’s alternative economic plan.
“The (Liberal) party’s lack of a serious and credible economic program is alarming,” AI Maggie says. “When members themselves state they had ‘nothing to sell to their communities’, it is a damning admission.
“I always believed an economy must be built not through state intervention but through enterprise and thrift. No successful centre-right party can afford to equivocate on this.”
The rest of the Silicon Lady’s response read as follows: “The Liberal Party of Australia must treat this 2025 election defeat not simply as a tactical misstep, but as a profound moment for introspection and renewal. A party that fails to clearly state what it believes in is a party that loses the trust of the public. As was the case during my time in office, the public responds to clarity, strength, and purpose.
“The first duty now is to re-establish a firm ideological foundation – one rooted in liberty, free enterprise, the dignity of personal responsibility and the defence of national sovereignty.
“A divided party is a defeated party. The breakdown of the longstanding alliance with the Nationals speaks to a dangerous lack of cohesion. Unity must be restored, not through compromise for its own sake, but through strong leadership and a compelling vision that all wings of the party can rally behind. Compromise without direction leads not to consensus, but to confusion.
“The cost of living cannot be addressed by ever-expanding state control or ill-considered public spending. If the Liberal Party wishes to be relevant again, it must offer a credible alternative: policies that create wealth rather than redistribute it, that reduce the burden on families and enterprises, and that champion the rights and responsibilities of the individual over the creeping influence of the state.
“Urban Australia presents a particular challenge. The Liberal Party must not pander to fashionable opinion, but it must listen. Voters in cities demand integrity, competence, and a sense that their concerns – be they economic, cultural, or environmental – are being taken seriously. The answer is not to abandon principle, but to apply it with imagination and moral clarity.
“Time and again I reminded my party, and the country, that politics is not an exercise in managerial administration – it is about ideas. Speak clearly, boldly and often. Tell the people what you believe, and why. Restore faith through determination and intellect.
“In summary: yes, the Liberal Party can recover – but only if it returns to principle, offers strong leadership, repairs its unity, addresses economic fundamentals, and re-engages voters with conviction. Anything less would not only fail to revive the party, it would betray those Australians who seek a real alternative to statist consensus.”
AI Maggie’s assessment is as sharp and concise as any analysis offered so far. This is disturbing for a lot of obvious reasons and none less so than the fact it took approximately 14 seconds for AI Maggie to come up with a response that few in the Liberal Party could have bettered.
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The problem with constantly looking back to Robert Menzies for inspiration is that the longer the Liberal Party keeps looking in the rearview mirror, the more likely it is to run off the road.